The Gamers Guide To AKIHABARA!
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- čas přidán 19. 10. 2016
- NEW 2020 tour of Akihabara here - • The Ultimate Akihabara...
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Take a look at all the best game shops in Akihabara! from Super Potato, Friends, Mandarake and more! I love this place so much!
Retro Camp.
Definitely one to avoid, this is a set of two shops which draw in the tourists with it's flashy banners written in english as well as Japanese. You will find some of the most popular import games on display here, but waaaay over priced, for example, Mother 3 is in all the glass cabinets near the front of these stores and they have the nerve to try charging upwards of ¥8000 (about £60!)
Sure they have some very cool stuff on display but it's best just to look in here and save your money for some of the other shops mentioned later in this post.
There is a new Retro Camp store opened up on the other side of the road, in the basement of another building. Something seemed a bit off about this place, I didn't see a single Japanese person in there, and I went back three times... They didn't seem to specialise in anything in particular.
I did pick up two Rockman games for the GBA in there though, and regretted it later when I found the same games for almost half the price!
Next up, another one strictly for looking, not buying. By far the most famous retro game shop in Japan.
Super Potato.
They have some really rare games on display here, but again, it's very pricey. They do make sure the games are in great condition though, theres always someone behind the counter cleaning the games. This is also a good place to look for some rarer prices but don't go to these stores expecting to find a good deal! Only shop here as a last resort. if you see anything you're intrested in, jot it down and take a look at the next place...
Mandarake.
Go to the 6th floor of this huge building to find a vast array of retro games, all in excellent condition. This is a fantastic place to shop and they have a lot of selection. The games here are all graded based on the condition of the game cartridge, the box and the manual. the prices vary according to the condition so if you don't mind having a slightly dented box you will be able to save quite a bit!
but don't buy yet, theres a few more places to look...
Trader.
There's three main Trader buildings in Akihabara, the one to go to for retro goodness is Trader 1. Go to the second floor and be prepared to spend hours looking up and down every shelf. This place is a treasure trove of retro games, all in great condition. (Not sure if they are all tested though so better check first.) Here, I managed to find a great deal on a Famicom Gameboy Micro, I've seen them to upwards of ¥25,000 in some places, I picked one up here for just ¥17,000, so that just goes to show how much you can save by shopping around! (Thats about a £60 saving!)
Here's a funny video of me prehaps buying a few too many things from here!
Friends
This shop isn't in the main street of Akihabara but well worth tracking down!
The first floor of this shop has a load of PC Engine games all at reasonable prices, the best i've seen in Akihabara so far. I picked up Raiden complete in box for just 6000 Yen! I'd seen it earlier in the day at super potato going for 11000!
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Thanks for watching! - Hry
08:40
A shop floor full of retro games and merchandise whilst the OP for Clannad After Story plays...
... I have seen a vision of Valhalla...
The worst problem in Akihabara is price. The place is soooo popular, especially for gaijins, that the prices went extremely up. I have good friends who live in Tokyo for years and they never go to Akihabara because the excessive cost. Most of them are now going to Osaka: better prices and availability. I miss times around ten years ago when retro wasn't popular. Everything was extra cheap. Now, with so many people, especially from outside Japan, with retro fever, the prices are going up like a rocket making very difficult complete any collection.
Example: DraculaX in 0:57 at 19300yens. In Osaka I found easily for 14000yens. 5000 difference!!!
+Javier Sianes I keep hearing how much more expensive it's got. Wish I could have gone there back then. But even though it's prices have skyrocketed it's still cheaper than anything possible to find in the U.K. And a hell of a lot more exciting to look around!
+Javier Sianes I did go to denden town and some other shops in Osaka which I'll be making a video about soon! :) really want to get Dracula X but I ran out of money haha
Looking forward for that video!
Both the Japanese as also foreigners have taken an impact on retro prices.
I remember buying Ninja Masters or Magical Drop 3 for Neo Geo AES for like 300$ each at Trader in Akihabara in 2003.
now most places have dried up when it comes to really rare stuff OR have it sitting in their glass shelfs for crazy prices.
Eliminate Down for Mega Drive - 1200$ at Mandarake (Osaka mind you) - LOL
Awesome video, nice to see some of the same shops from when i visited a couple of years back.
+Ryan Shapiro thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! :) I really love it there can't wait to go back again
Thanks for these videos. It's great to be able to travel with you and see really cool game shops in Japan.
+Victor Sirotek no problem! Glad you've enjoyed the videos! There's still a few more to come :)
The stores are super great but the one who's filming was moving so much I got headache but you did a great job to show us
Haha I did try to tell my GF to stop moving the camera so much! Think she was too excited XD
Went there a few days ago. Many things to watch and so little time :C
thank you the video, i'm after retro games shops while over there next week. made note of each of them :)
+madmax01992 brilliant :) hope you have fun next week! :D
I had so much fun looking around Akihabara when I went last year. Some of the places are so hidden though so I'm sure I missed some of the ones you showed. I found Nakano Broadway to be a pretty good place for retro games too. I took so much home from that trip it was crazy. I really wanted to pick up a virtual boy but the prices were too high to justify it. I wish I would have picked a famicom and bunch of random games now too. Nice vid!
+Timeless Gaming UK yeah it's an amazing place but can be hard to find your way around! I'm sure there's some shops I missed too! There were some smaller ones I didn't include on the video as I didn't have enough footage of them. Really want to go back already! Haha.
That was an awesome tour 👍🏻 I'd spend a fortune if I went 😂 planning on a trip in the next couple of years better start saving. Looking forward to checking out you vids👍🏻
All the best jay
Thanks! Really glad you enjoyed the tour! :D I've still got a few more japan videos to post, and loads already on my channel as well as many other gaming and shopping / pickups vids! Hope you get to go there one day!
Man I can´t wait till it´s March to travel to Tokyo! And just like you´re girlfriend said: "I will bring a second siutcase just for games" ^^
I buy all my Japanese Sega Saturn games from Japan. They always give me the best deals and I save when buying in bundle. Thank you online shopping. 😁🕹️💪🎮
What site do you use to buy them from?
Reply bitch
I always hear that Akihabara is so expensive for games, but all I saw when I went were game prices that were many magnitudes cheaper than anything you can find in the US, all in conditions better than you find for the most expensive stuff here. Loose games for $1-2 that aren't just crappy sports games (or scratched to all hell)? Boxed games for $15-20? That's insane for the US. Even the crappiest loose games sell for around $10 and you'd be lucky to find anything boxed under $40. And everything they sold was so clean, too.
I'm impressed with both the prices and quality of this stuff in Japan, and really wish the US had anywhere close to these kinds of prices. The fact that you can find games for even cheaper than Akihabara is just ridiculous.
I want to buy a purple 2ds xl and a few other thing while there. Give me 1-2 years I will be there.
how much money would you say I would properly need to buy decent stuff from there ?
my wife and i spent WAY too much time in one building there, just looking at figurines. I walked out with two evangelion statues :P
Could spend all day looking at figures! It’s insane how many can be in one place! :) great that you picked some up 👍
Hello,, im going over there later this year,, Is it possible to find a new old stock ps3
+muhammad ikram alwi hey, I’m sure it would be yeah, you can find anything out there!
You seem to go Japan very often, how much do the trip usually cost? I would love to go there. Also...do you need to speak much Japanese? I would love to learn some but I've heard it's quite difficult...
best akiba vid cheers
Glad you think so! I had a blast filming it :)
so in one of your vids u talked about a game that was recently made for the famicom, how would anyone know about it being released? howd u know about it? generally how do you keep up with the japanese gaming? like the game dark witch for the 3ds howd you hear about it? howd u know it'd be good? sorry 4 the questions im just really into this stuff but i just don't know how to stay informed. if u could lemme know id real appreciate it.
+Jack Mcloud just from twitter mainly. Follow some retro gaming sites. And CZcams I subscribe to lots of people who are talking about those kinds of games! With that Famicom game I looked it up myself after I saw it in Japan for sale.
Super video - such interesting shops offering great eye candy, even if pricey. Just subbed.
Thanks glad you enjoyed it! They are amazing aren't they! I've got some more game shop videos from Japan to upload soon too!
Let's Play Retro Games! Great - look forward to that.
Hey, I just uploaded the next game shopping video, from Den Den Town in Osaka, Basically Osaka's answer to Akihabara! Check it out on m channel! :)
Let's Play Retro Games! Great thanks for the notification mate!
Awesome video, thanks! I'm taking a trip out there in May, do you have any specific recommendations on where I'd be able to find a copy of Mother 2 in box for the Super Famicom? Dragon Quest series as well? I'm alright with them being a little overpriced, just would really love to pick them up in person while I'm there in Japan. Thanks again.
Hey, thanks for watching. Honestly you’ll be able to easily find those games in any of the shops I showed in this video, very easy to find. Probably best to have a look in a few different shops and see what the prices are like
@@RetroBreak Thanks for your response! Definitely will be shopping around anyway per your suggestions on the video too. Feel better soon with your cold by the way!
I want to see what kind of game stores they have in Cuba. Castro’s House Of Games.
Great guide, thanks for showing us the main spots in Akihabara! I'm heading to Tokyo next year and after watching some of the retro video game travel guides on CZcams it strikes me that I haven't seen any NES games (PAL or NTSC) in any of the videos. Are they rare in Japan or do the shops mostly focus on Famicom from the 8-bit era?
+Fredrik Hast I didn't see ANY nes games at all that I remember. You'll only be able to find Famicom games out there really unless there's an import store.
Thanks for the quick reply mate! Ah bummer, I was hoping I would score some titles. Ah well..
+Fredrik Hast apparently there used to be an import shop in Akihabara but it's closed down unfortunately :( maybe you'd find some in some general second hand stores but I don't remember seeing any
The famicon was the Japanese version of the NES with different cartridges that are specific to japan. That's why you don't see many NES games because they're replaced with famicon games.
I'm considering getting a gameboy micro myself. am I right in thinking that the Japanese micro can't be plugged into a 240V wall socket? I'm sure I read that somewhere.
yes you will need to get a UK charger, luckily I already have one, but my old gameboy micro died!
You can always use any Japanese machine outside Japan with a stepper down. If you like retro and Japanese machines, this is a must. I have this one in Ireland which I use with my MSX2+ and Super Famicom without any problem: amzn.to/2esX2Vz
Great video ! Please make gamers' guide to den den town osaka next ! :3
I have done :) if you go on my channel and look in the Japan 2016 playlist you’ll find it! :)
Let's Play Retro Games! Thanks, I will look it up 😁
Great! Hope you like it :) there’s some amazing shops there! Shame youtube doesn’t let you post links else I would have sent it here!
What about the prices for Gameboys (all family line) at Akiba? Heard from others that going to less popular towns or cities in Japan, you'll get half the price off the one from Akiba?
Love your vlogs btw, keep up with the awesome vlogs! 👍🏻
yes you'll get the games for half the price! But you've definitely got more chance of finding what you want in Akihabara! So, depends on your budget / if you want to try tracking down some smaller shops around Japan :)
do they have neogeo aes consoles, how much? and a lot of snk aes games?
+creepa9 yes they had AES consoles and games but I'm not sure how much they were sorry :(
Let's Play Retro Games! Thank you.
My Target Console Game, if I want Vacation in Japan🇯🇵 :
1.Nintendo 64
2.Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP
3.SEGA Saturn
4.SEGA Dreamcast
5.Nintendo GameCube
Greetings from Indonesia🇮🇩, Southeast Asian. I like Japan🇯🇵, especially Toys and Games (Arcade and Console). Japan is one of the Best Country to Travelling, and in Japan is Awesome Everything what We want also find them in here... Three of them is Toys, Games, and Tourist Attractions.... Very Cool this Country.
😁🙏👍👍👍
I've recently uploaded a new tour of Akihabara - Watch it here - czcams.com/video/o6ViLBZFCiQ/video.html
Thanks I’ll keep this video with me when I go to Japan lol
Make sure to watch this updated video too where I detail all the game shops and how to get to them :) czcams.com/video/o6ViLBZFCiQ/video.html
Hell yeah just what I needed, another video saying the same thing
+xTHETRAINx What were you expecting?
Great video covering the gaming shops. Just a little feedback though please get a camera stabilizer and lower fps frame rate. Between the fast video motion and shaking it was really hard to make out what we were looking at!
+[BK] TECH thanks, and don’t worry, I’m planning to go back again next year and I’ve upgraded all my camera equipment. Can’t wait to go back and make a better video :D
RetroBreak I definitely want to go to Japan this year but it’s quite pricey from the states. I saw this Sony 4K cam that has built in gyro for optic stabilization which one did you pick up?
I got the DJI Osmo Pocket, it’s also a 4K Pocket cam with stabilisation, I’ve used it a few times and it works really well! Will be great to take round the shops and arcades :D
5:08 what did he say? It is better to go to Osaka? A super potatoe store in Osaka or what did he mean?
Yeah the Super Potato in Osaka is way better! I did a video of it here when I went a few years ago - czcams.com/video/2pJR01Aox-A/video.html
@@RetroBreak Thanks for the swift response. I'd like to go on vacation in Tokio as soon as it is possible again. Which stores were the best to search for N64 games?
What camara you used for this video? It looks so clear
Think at the time I was using an iPhone 7 Plus and a Sony RX100III camera. I’m going back again in March and have upgraded all my camera equipment so I’ll be making a new video that should look a lot better!
Epic dude
+johnny blaze Thanks! I really loved filming this! :D
How could you not man gamer heaven right there lolz cheers.
wich camera did u use? the image its great! finally some decent shots.
+Christian Campos Some shot with the Sony RX100 m3 camera, some with iPhone 6 :)
nice! it looks great, i will spend my vacations over there next month and im planning to get some videogames, nothing retro, just ps3, ps4 and vita, glad to see a good video guide about it! thx, i can see that my best bet will be traders and hard off. :).
+Christian Campos the Sony camera is amazing I'm so happy with the quality on it! That's cool hope you have a great time! There were a few more shops that just do new games as well. Check out Yodobashi Akiba on the other side of the train station (it's a huge electronics shop with a whole floor for new games!)
Japan is a paradise
You look like the magician dynamo 👌
YOU PANNED PAST THE TORADORA GAME IN HOBBY OFF AND I DIED D:
+BtakaV ahhh I didn't notice it! After watching the video back myself I've seen loads of games I missed at the time haha! Can't wait to go back!
its okay! theres soooo many games, i can see why you missed a bunch! last time i went to akihabara i was still a novice and only went to super potato, but ive since made a list and a map of all the places im going to go when i go back up in may xD
Agree with Javier Sianes, people just go to this stores and buy any kind of games even if they dont understand them. Prices suck in all these stores. Traders, mr potato, mandrake...... all obvious stores... You CANT miss them.... all gaijins visit these stores and the prices have adapted accordingly.
+Jack Higgins yeah, I agree the prices aren't great but there also isn't anywhere like it so I also understand why many people (including myself) still like to go there to buy their games. Can you recommend anywhere else in Tokyo to buy retro games at a better price? I did also go to Nagano Broadway which was pretty cool but the prices seemed about the same..
I guess I was hoping a less obvious selection of stores ....kind like some specific stores in nakano broadway , the stores u mentioned used to be good but nowadays is hard to find something decent for a decent price. Some even says that Osaka have become a better place
+Jack Higgins check out my video on DenDen town in Osaka :) it's a much cheaper place but for many people it's too far away from Tokyo for a quick shopping trip. Still worth going to though if you can get there! :D
Aah touché . Will do
+Jack Higgins cool! Enjoy :)
Did you go to Nakano Broadway?
Mandarake galaxy: best retrogame shop on the planet.
+Federico De Marchi yes I did I did a video on Nagano Broadway :) have a look on my channel :)
When are you coming to Japan next time?
+Federico De Marchi probably next year I need to start saving again!
Let me know! Maybe we can go shopping together.
I want to buy Recca 92 but I need a motivator..
+Federico De Marchi I'll let you know whenever I'm there next! I'd love to get Recca 92 as well!
I'm confused and this is probably a stupid question. But wouldn't buying these games mean playing through them in Japanese? I don't understand the concept for someone who wants these titles but doesn't speak Japanese.
+Daan it’s not a stupid question. I have a system called Retro Freak, and before that, the Retron 5 which lets you apply an English language patch to Japanese games! Also I can read some Japanese
+Daan check out my latest video for a way of applying translation patches to Japanese games!
Also many games you don't need to know another language to play. For instance most Shumps, Platfrom, puzzle, fighters, racing and beat em ups would be language-independent. The gameplays is for the most part self explanatory with no to little story. A lot of these games was released in japan but was never translated. Most of the games are played on consoles like famicom(and disksystem) PC engine (both CD and hue cards).
Next time you should take a bunch of American games with you to sell.
Prices in Super Potato is in a lot of items more expensive than Ebay. Ridiculous. I'm with you: I great place to visit, but probably one of the worst place for buying. It's seems you're focused in getting a nice PC Engine collection. I'm trying too. But because of the prices, seems complex to have a decent collection.
+Javier Sianes yeah crazy prices for some of them as you could see in the cabinet! I've heard the best thing to do is find out where some hard.off stores are outside the city and go on a bus or car. Much cheaper just awkward to get to
I have a good friend living in Kobe for more than 5 years now and he said exactly the same: hard.off outside city you can find easier good deals. But if you don't live there difficult to get there.
I visited several Hard Offs - they got nice stuff when searching for more "common" retro.
but as stated by others here - Super Potato is a funny place - 95% inside will be foreigners with only the sales clerks being Japanese xD
You went to all the places I frequent, and some of the ones I don't bother with :cough:retrocamp:cough:.
+bondingo haha yeah retrocamp is not the best! Do you know of any other game shops I didn’t feature that are worth visiting?
Honestly you went to all of the ones I know really, but the BOOK OFF around the station on a side street has a pretty good amount of retro games as well (at least for a BOOK OFF). I recently heard about a place called BEEP too that I'm gonna check out this weekend. It's apparently a little bit further than where the lively parts of the main strip end.
+bondingo yeah I only recently heard about BEEP too. Shame I didn’t know at the time. If you go there let me know how it is! :)
Went to BEEP yesterday and was pretty underwhelmed. It's mostly focused on retro Japanese PCs and they sell a lot of games for those. There was a very small selection of other retro games, but nothing significant. I'd say it's maybe worth a look once, but doubt you'd wanna go again.
Ace video
+Kevla El thanks! I hope I can go back there again and make another video sometime!
Let's Play Retro Games! I'm hoping to go there with my son.
👌👌👌🌟🌟🌟🌟
Nakano. Mandarake Galaxy.
looks like Mega Man is popular in Akihabara
+XenoParadoxGamer yeah it's very popular out there! :D
Let's Play Retro Games! umm hmm 😊, but thatz not the only thing that I'm interested in over there, the retro game shops though, they are sooo PERFECT, they sell everything boxed and they are factory sealed, plus when you look at Famicom, Super Famicom, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Gear, Game Boy Color, N64 cartridges they are 100% new, sealed and that is AWESOME, which is normal because Japan is a wealthy country when it comes to retro game collecting and that means everything you buy there is authentic.
1:31 😍mother for gameboy advance
You could get translated versions of Mother 3 there too!
Let's Play Retro Games! Yeah and you really like it there in japan huh
I love it there! Hopefully going back next year so I’ll be making some more videos too! :D
>go to akihabara
>be amazed
>go out an hour by train and visit a dosen hard offs and buy stuff there
Don't buy things at super potato
They're better as museums than as they are stores
Very true the best bargains are at hard off and book off stores outside the cities
Ohhhhh my gerddddd UwU
If u think your rates are expensive,think of other 3rd class country exchange rates for yen,
oh boy he is gonna be sad when he gets home and finds out the PS1 is NOT region free
Mine is.. so no worries there!
I found a better retro video game store and I made a video about it. I think it’s the BEST VIDEO GAME STORE OF ALL TIME